How to run several online businesses at the same time

Do you have more passions than just one? I have! And for some reason, I keep building new businesses and I start a lot of new projects. Some people can barely keep up and people ask me all the time, how do you run several businesses? The secret? Be super organized, automate everything and make sure it’s your passion. I have a few tips for anyone wanting to start a side project, a new business or side hustle while having a full-time day job.

Getting started with blogging

Did you know that only 11% of all bloggers earn more than $30.000? So you better make sure you’re one of the top 11% bloggers! To be honest, it’s not that difficult, but you have to realize it’s not just blogging. See, this blogger makes $50,000 every month in a very passive way. Having multiple income streams is a start. I have collected over 50+ ways bloggers and online entrepreneurs can make money and many of the ways I have used to be able to travel full-time the past three years. Signing up for blog networks is equally important as a blogger because big companies will email you with collaboration requests. If you’re just starting out, make sure you read my tutorial on how to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost and the 25+ tools I can’t live without as a professional blogger (many of them are free!).

Planning is key 

This seems obvious, but this is what happens: when you’re super busy, hustling around, you’ll mix things up. You’ll spend more hours on one project than planned, you’ll mix things together and you’ll lose track of what happens where. I schedule everything, from Pinterest (choose any of these 5 tools, Tailwind is free to use) to Instagram with Planoly.

Passion

Only do the things you truly love (and of course, if you’re not making enough money with your passion, make sure your #1 focus is on the job that brings in the money). If you read this, it might seem like something obvious, but when you’re busy working on several projects, time flies. And after a while, you might find yourself in a different place when you started out. Do you still LOVE what you do? Or did it become routine? If you still love it, try to monetize the project. Eliminate all other things, especially if you don’t love them anymore.

Time-Management

Do you work 15 hours a day and do you know deep inside that it’s time to stop working this much? You never see your friends and family anymore and you can’t remember the last time you actually used that Netflix subscription.

Every day you have a busy schedule and you’re always busy, busy, busy. Time to create more time by hacking the heck out of your day. Focus on being productive instead of being busy. Check out this crash course you can follow in just under 60 minutes to learn some awesome time management hacks!

Be transparent

Make sure your readers and customers know when they can receive an email back, or see a new blog post up. You don’t want your lovely fans and followers to get angry because all of a sudden they don’t hear from you… so always communicate and be transparent about the things you do. I’m sure they’d understand it if you explain that you’re super busy. For me that means, letting people know when I’m traveling somewhere without wifi, instead of just going off the grid completely.

Automate 

Automate is my favorite word these days! Make sure you schedule ALL your social media, so you have more time to jump in when you need to and so it looks like you’re working on the project or business every day. You can’t just post two days a week when you’re actually working on that business, and skip the other days.

If you schedule + automate your business and life, people will never guess that you only work certain hours a week (or even month!) on something. I suggest you schedule your emails, PR strategy, marketing, funnels, and newsletters with Convertkit. Schedule your blog posts in WordPress. Schedule your social media with IFTTT and Buffer. Schedule your Instagram photos with Planoly and your Pinterest pins with Tailwind. Have free downloads automatically delivered with Teachable or Convertkit. 

Log out 

Make sure you log out to inboxes on days you’re not ‘working on that business or project’. This way, you avoid mixing things up. If you see that urgent email in business account number 1, while you need to work on business number 2 you’ll fall behind on business number 2. So, my tip, log out and turn on the ‘out of office’.

If you work with one email address or have all inboxes coming into one, I suggest you label them and have them automatically forwarded to a designated File. So you only have to check in on that file the days you’re working and they don’t clutter your inbox.

Know your limits

Knowing your limits is extremely important as an entrepreneur or busy person. Learn to say ‘no’, especially to things that bring you down, take a lot of effort or energy and to things that bring little in. For example, I get invited to a lot of blogger events, and they are a lot of fun, I love going to them, but sometimes I’m just too busy and I know it will only give me a goodie bag and an Instagram photo, so it’s better to cancel/decline.

Good luck! If I can do it, you can do it! Want to read more about productivity and time-management and passive income and running a business? 

• The complete guide to making money blogging with a small following
• Getting started with affiliate marketing for bloggers to earn passive income
• Using Tailwind Tribes to grow my passive income streams to $10.000 a month
• The tools I use to run my 5-figure automated business and blog – networks, plugins, software, tools, and hosting
• 4 simple steps to starting a WordPress blog from scratch if you have zero technical knowledge | Tech tutorial
• The ultimate guide to doing your own PR
• 50+ ways to make an income online from home as a blogger or entrepreneur
• Automatically schedule your Pinterest pins with these 5 tools
• My top 7 automations that will help you get more done in less time
• Time-saving tips for busy entrepreneurs
• Why using Convertkit is the only way to grow your blog income in 2016
• Work smarter, not harder. Time management + productivity hacks you need to know (incl. free download!)
• How to use Convertkit as a PR tool to automate the heck out of your PR strategy